Star Wars: Gunrunners
by Mathen Nors
Summary: All Saeryn Farth and her Bothan partner Kaybin wanted to do was turn a profit running guns for the Rebel Alliance, but when the blasters start blazing in Mos Eisely, money is the last thing on their minds.
1. The Informant

Author Notes: This fanfic is the result of me sitting around being bored one day, and deciding to write something that had to do with one of my favorite movies. For the most part, I have tried to keep everything in this fanfic as true to the Star Wars universe as possible. There are some minor details that wouldn't hold up to the accepted canon, and avid Star Wars fans will be easily able to pick them out. However, this was what I came up with as I was writing, and I think the story would have been much duller if those things were pulled. Anyway, please read on and enjoy, and please do leave a review. More of this story will be posted later, and there might even be other stories afterward. Thanks.  
  
Star Wars: Gunrunners  
  
Blazing brighter than they had in a long time, the twin suns of Tatooine beat mercilessly down on the barren desert world. The great sand mounds of the Dune Sea shifted constantly, driven by the hot breeze that withered away everything green. Herds of huge banthas tromped their way among the dunes, seeking shelter from the suns. The oppressive heat settled over the Judland Wastes like a heavy blanket, smothering everything that was too weak to resist.  
In the sprawling, haphazard settlement that was Mos Eisley, things were little better. Saeryn Farth had the misfortune of experiencing it first hand as she made her way through the streets. The warren of prefab shelters, alleys, cantinas, and vehicle parts shops that had sprung up around the local spaceport was not a pleasant place. Only the brave or the foolish dared to come here, and none but the unfortunate and those hiding from something or someone actually lived here.  
Saeryn liked to think of herself as brave, but she hadn't come to Mos Eisley to prove it. She was here on business, the type of business that could only be carried out in a remote and innately dangerous place like this. Smuggling was nothing new on Tatooine, but Saeryn Farth didn't give the first impression of being the usual smuggler. Most smugglers were dirty and unkempt, hiding out in dark holes away from prying eyes. Most weren't human females either, but were instead men, or various cunning and crafty alien species. And then there was the fact that most smugglers weren't the daughters of Imperial Grand Moffs.  
Saeryn Farth was tall and well built, still slender, but endowed with finely toned muscle. Her raven black hair was done up in a tight, business- like braid, and her ever shifting gray eyes sparkled in the light of the suns with tiny flecks of green. She wore a black pilot's jumpsuit, and strapped low about her hips were twin DX-97 blasters. Not surprisingly, the weapons were illegal on most civilized planets, but so were the holdout blasters she had concealed up each sleeve.  
This wasn't her first job on Tatooine, but it felt like it was. It always felt like that. There was something about the desert world, about its generally low-life populace that set her on edge. Perhaps it was her Imperial upbringing that had instilled some sort of repugnance toward this sort of place deep inside her. She was used to it, but she would never like it, and she would never feel at home with it. The glittering towers of Coruscant and luscious green landscapes of planets like Naboo were more her element, but she had long since learned that a smuggler could never afford to be choosy when it came down to when and where a job went down.  
Born on Bilbringi, Saeryn's early life had been closely structured in its ideals and its politics, but the lifestyle had been lavish. Her father, Aeryn Farth, was the Imperial Grand Moff of the Inner Rim Territories, and he had had access to nearly everything he had ever wanted. Which meant Saeryn, as his only child, had access to much the same thing. But although she had been brought up in the ways of the Galactic Empire and she called many of the Imperial ideals her own, she did not agree with all of them. She showed a rebellious streak early in life, finally leaving her home, her father, and a bright future in the Imperial Navy before she was twenty.  
And so it was that, while Saeryn didn't exactly like places like Tatooine, she couldn't imagine not going to them every now and then. Her job called for it, and no matter how different her tastes were, she wouldn't give up the job for anything.  
That thought helped to calm her a bit. She was nervous, but she didn't show it; her gait was more like that of a wary predator moving through dangerous territory than that of an anxious woman. She kept her guard up, constantly studying her surroundings, which required much attention indeed.  
The street she was on was one of the busier thoroughfares in Mos Eisley, but it was not the widest, by far. The drab, tan stone walls that made up the unevenly spaced shelters, which in turned formed the sides of the alley, were little more than four meters apart. The scores of grubby stands and shops lined along them made it even narrower.  
Hundreds of beings streamed by, their species ranging from Human to Hutt to ones Saeryn had never seen before. The dust their various forms of movement created was stifling, rising in clouds to pollute and contaminate everything it touched. And the noise was incredible, coming from the hundreds of voices and the tunes of off-note instruments from some of the many bars. A spattering of blaster fire could even be heard in the distance as well.  
"Ichuta wanzi utuu?"  
Saeryn stopped short, her way bared by an obviously inebriated being that had stumbled from a nearby bar to her right. It was a Rodian by the looks of it.  
The creature smiled foolishly. "Ichuta wanzi utuu, sa?" it repeated.  
"Get a life, creep," Saeryn growled. If it could not understand her words, at least it would understand the dangerous tone of her voice.  
But apparently, its drink had clouded its ability to judge such things. The taller being stepped closer, apparently wanting money, but Saeryn dropped a hand to one of her blasters. Giving another smile, the Rodian shrugged carelessly and staggered off in the opposite direction.  
Making sure her holster guards were unsnapped, Saeryn continued on. Before long, she caught sight of her destination through the teeming throng of beings, a few hundred meters farther down the alley. It was a small, musty cantina, indistinguishable from the other drab, tan buildings except for the crooked sign slapped hurriedly over the door that read "Pad 87." She kept walking until she was close enough to get a good view of everyone going in and out of the door, then she ducked into the entrance alcove of another building across the street and sank back into the shadows. For a long time, she just stood there, casually leaning against the wall while scanning the entire area.  
The exercise served two purposes. One was to make sure that no one was following her or paying too much attention to what she was doing. The second was to make sure that no one else was watching the place. As far as she could tell, no one was watching her, and only customers were interested in the cantina. Of course, scoping a place out could only do so much, and was no guarantee of security. She would have to be ready for anything, at any time.  
After a few more minutes of watching, Saeryn stepped out from the shadows of the alcove and headed across the street, keeping her pace measured and easy. As far as anyone else was concerned, she was just a woman who decided she could use a cool drink after a hot day's work. Quickly casting a glance over her shoulder to double check that no one was paying any particular interest in her, she stepped into the darkened main room of the cantina.  
Pausing for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the dim light, she surveyed the patrons. Most were humanoids, either gathered at the bar at the back of the main room, or seated at tables and booths scattered around. Smoke hung in a cloud near the ceiling, and brightly colored lights made it glow in strange hues. Some ear-wrenching version of one of the latest Jizz hits was playing loudly in the background. No one seemed to have noticed her arrival, and she wanted to keep it that way.  
Her partner was not hard to find, and she made her way over to his booth, about halfway back along the right wall.  
"Did that brukalli do something bad?" she asked casually.  
Kaybin looked up as he vengefully stabbed another piece of his food with what passed for a fork. "Saeryn. 'Bout time."  
Saeryn slid onto the bench across from him and rested her elbows on the table. "Come on, Kaybin," she said soothingly, "what happened?"  
The Bothan looked up at her again, his brown fur rippling. "I'll tell you what happened, they lifted my wallet, that's what happened. Got the creds, the ID, everything."  
She smiled. "That's it? Well, they didn't get much. You had, what, five credits in the wallet? And the ID was fake anyway."  
Kaybin stabbed another piece of the brukalli as if he were afraid it was still alive. "It's not the fact that they got it, it's how they got it. I fell for the oldest trick in the book: the 'oops-I'm-terribly-sorry- sir' one. I mean, the guy had a klick's worth of free room."  
She simply smiled again. "Yeah, well, it happens to all of us." She lowered her voice and leaned closer to him. "You see our friend yet?"  
The Bothan nodded. "Behind and to your right, toward the back of the place."  
She took a quick glance in the direction Kaybin had indicated. Sure enough, there he was, a diminutive, four-armed alien, sitting alone at one of the booths. His smooth green skin glistened with sweat in the dim light, which suggested he had been there a long time. In one of his right hands, he held a frothy drink of some sort, while with two more hands, he shuffled a deck of sabacc cards. In his mouth hung an expensive Corellian cigarra, longer than any of his own arms.  
"He clean?" Saeryn asked her partner.  
"He's alone, if that's what you mean," Kaybin replied. "He could be armed though."  
She snorted. "Not likely; he couldn't lift anything bigger than a toy vibroblade with all four of his arms together. Come on, let's give him some company."  
Quietly, the two slipped from their booth and headed across the establishment to stand in front of the alien.  
"Hey, old buddy," piped Saeryn.  
The alien jumped, spitting out his cigarra and spilling his drink all over the table. His squeal was high pitched and grating. "Aaaahhhh! Go 'way! I don't know nothin'! I don't know nobody! I don't even know what yer talkin' 'bout! And I sure don't owe you nothin'!"  
He jumped up on the table and made as if to run for it, but Saeryn reached out and grabbed him by his two antennae, easily lifting him off the stone surface. Putting on his most fierce face, the creature lashed out with all four arms and both feet, but none of the blows even got close to the woman.  
"Cool it, Chjivjeebs," she laughed softly, bringing him up to eye level. "Some one might get the idea that you're guilty of something."  
Chjivjeebs stopped kicking, blinking his two big, black eyes. "I don't know what yer talkin' 'bout, but I ain't done nothin'!"  
"I doubt that," she replied, "but regardless, we're not here to vape you." She gave him a solid shake. "Promise you won't run."  
The little alien winced, but nodded as best as he could. "Yeah, sure." He rubbed his head as Saeryn set him down on the back seat. "Who're youse guys, anyhow?"  
The other two slid in on either side of him, cutting off any easy route of escape.  
"Come now, Jeebs," said Kaybin genially. "I've got twenty creds that say you know who we are, and what we're looking for."  
Chjivjeebs snatched up the proffered credit chit and bit it. "I mayt know who yer are, but I ain't certain what youse two're lookin' fer."  
Kaybin slid out another chit.  
The other alien secreted it away. "Info, is it?" He hefted his cigarra and took a puff. "Fine, what'll it be?"  
Saeryn leaned closer to him, lowering her voice but keeping the tone easy and casual. "We're the ones hired to smuggle out that load of guns that came in here a week ago. Problem is, a little something... unexpected... went down at the loading bay, and they disappeared. We need to know where they are."  
Chjivjeebs scratched one of his antennae. "Guns, er, what guns?" He winked a bulbous eye at Kaybin.  
The Bothan sighed and handed out another chit.  
"Oh, yeah, those guns. I ain't certain, but I think Jabba the Hutt has hold of 'em o'er at his place. Lots of 'em, I heard say."  
Saeryn raised a dark eyebrow and sat back. "Jabba? What's he doing with them?"  
Chjivjeebs shrugged. "Howse I ter know? Him's got most everthin' 'round here!"  
Kaybin didn't need another hint, but slid across a fourth chit, one worth fifty credits this time. "How can we get hold of him, Jeebs?"  
"Er, docking bay 92. Talk ter some Garbag the Hutt er somat like that. Him's Jabba's contact. 'E'll get yer the guns."  
Saeryn stood and nodded to Kaybin. "Thanks, Jeebs. As always, a pleasure doing business with you."  
Chjivjeebs waved two hands at them as they left. "Bye-bye, youse guys. The pleesure's all mine!"  
Saeryn snorted under her breath as she and Kaybin walked away. "I'm sure it is," she muttered. 


	2. This Party's Just Getting Started

When they reached the street again, they took a right and walked for a few minutes before ducking into the shadows of a side alley. Kaybin pulled out his wallet, his real wallet, and stuck it in another pocket, just to keep any prospective thieves guessing. Saeryn leaned against the wall and checked the power packs on her blasters.  
"Well, what now?" she asked. "Obviously we need to get a hold of this Garbag the Hutt, but my gut instincts are telling me it's not going to be that simple. There's something else going on here. First a Black Sun squad raids the docked freighter, kills the captain, and steals the guns, then Jabba ends up with them? Something's not right."  
Kaybin shook his head. "No, it's never simple," he sighed, "and yes, something's not right." He sighed again as he took a swallow from his flask of water. "I don't know, Saeryn. If we didn't need the payoff from these guns so bad, I'd be tempted to call the whole thing off and lay low for awhile. I'm tired of Black Sun getting on our case for stepping on their toes. I'm not so sure that our agreement to run supplies for the Rebels was a good idea."  
Saeryn snorted derisively. "Black Sun," she spat. "Come on, Kaybin. They're a bunch of lowlife scum running around on the orders of some reptile. The only skill he looks for in his people is knowing the business end of a gun from the other. It's not like they're bounty hunters or something."  
"No, but they can get bounty hunters," Kaybin returned softly. "I heard Boba Fett himself pulled a job for them not so long ago."  
"And you think the fact that we got a couple of small deals that they lost out on will make them send Fett after us?" the woman asked. "Kaybin, you're starting to sound paranoid, and I don't like that." She shoved her blasters back into their holsters and looked back out toward the bustling street. "It's makes me edgy."  
"Better that than dead," the Bothan said. "But don't worry, I'm not thinking of backing out of the deal. We're going to get those guns, and we're going to get the payoff when they reach the Rebels." He slapped a new power pack into his blaster as if to emphasize the point. "Next time, though," he added, "we'd better make sure we're not getting into something we're not ready for."  
Saeryn grinned and nodded. "Agreed. Jeebs said we could find old Garbage – or whatever he's called – at docking bay 92. The spaceport is on the other side of the city, so if we want to make it before dusk, we're going to have to move."  
"Or get ourselves some transportation," Kaybin muttered. "We should have brought the speeder bikes from the Lady Rebel."  
"Right, and then become a magnet for every Jawa in the city!" Saeryn remarked dryly. "That would not have been a plus." She peered back out at the street. "No, my friend, we're going to do it the old fashioned way – we're going to walk."  
  
The first of Tatooine's suns was setting by the time the various tunnels and corridors leading to the spaceport came into view. Saeryn and Kaybin halted briefly under the awning of a dilapidated parts shop to consult a datapad; after picking out the best route, they started forward again. Minutes later, signs that included directions to docking bay 92 started showing up on the walls of the tunnel they were following.  
"Time to play it safe," Saeryn murmured.  
Kaybin nodded and slowed his gait to let her get a lead of several paces. Now, separated by a large portion of the quickly moving crowds, it would not be readily apparent that the two were associated in any way. Saeryn tried to keep everything and everyone in sight all at once as she neared their destination, and her Bothan companion kept one hand discreetly tucked inside his vest, where he had a nasty DX-97x – a rapid-fire version of the DX-97 – concealed. If any one opponent tried to attack either one of the pair, he, she, or it would also have to watch its back.  
Saeryn soon found the entrance to docking bay 92. It was a narrow little doorway that led down a low corridor to the right. The corridor itself opened up into what she guessed was the landing pad, but the bright red glare of the setting suns prevented her from seeing what was actually on it. She paused in the doorway and looked at her datapad, as if simply stepping aside to figure out where she was going, then glanced up and scanned the crowd. Satisfied that no one was watching the door – at least, not obviously – she ducked into the corridor and went halfway down it, then stopped to wait for Kaybin to catch up.  
The Bothan arrived a minute later, pulling his blaster out of his vest as he stepped up beside her. "This is too easy," he murmured, making sure to keep his voice low enough so that it wouldn't echo out into the landing bay and be heard by anyone who was listening. "If there was Hutt property in here, there'd at least be a couple of cheap guards out front. There'd be no way we could just walk in like this."  
Saeryn nodded, realizing he was right. And although she suddenly got the feeling they were walking into a trap, she couldn't think of any other way to proceed. "Maybe they're posted inside the bay," she said hopefully. She went on at her companion's doubtful look. "We need those guns, Kaybin. We really don't have any other choice. You know the Hutts. If they do have the guns, they're going to sell them off to the highest bidder as soon as possible. We can't let that happen. This may be our only chance to get them back."  
Kaybin nodded glumly. "All right," he said. "Let's get this over with."  
The Bothan hefted his blaster menacingly as he advanced, but Saeryn left hers in their holsters. The guards were unsnapped, however, and she could have them drawn in the matter of a second.  
They stepped carefully from the corridor and into the landing bay, splitting up to start heading in opposite directions in case of an ambush. The red light of the sunset was still bright here, but Saeryn could now make out the rusted hulk of a battered Corellian YT-1100 series freighter sitting on the pad; it looked terrible, but it appeared that it had been flown recently, with fuel and cooling lines attached at various points along the underside of its hull. At first glance, the bay itself appeared to be empty, but as she came around the right side of the ship, she saw two huddled forms crouching by the wall, intent on something on the ground.  
"Kaybin," she called warningly.  
The two figures looked up from their dice game, groping for their guns as they stood. One was a Weequay, the other a Rodian. Saeryn started to reach for her blasters, but the two aliens didn't raise their weapons.  
"Who're you?" the Weequay asked in rough Basic.  
"I'm looking for Garbag the Hutt," she said, evading the question. She glanced over her shoulder briefly as she heard footsteps behind her; it was Kaybin. "He around?"  
"Vra, na'stodi wanzi," the Rodian chortled. Saeryn didn't speak Rodian, but she got the gist of what he was saying. That depends on who's asking.  
"Saeryn Farth," she answered. "I was hired to run the guns that Garbag now has. I'm here to negotiate their turnover into my possession."  
"Ahhhh, you're just the ones I have been waiting for," came a deep, booming voice from behind the two smugglers.  
Saeryn and Kaybin both turned to see a large Hutt slithering down the ramp of the freighter, his arms spread wide in what was supposed to be a welcoming gesture. Instead, it made him look like some sort of repulsive slug asking for a hug.  
"You must be Garbag," Kaybin breathed in disgust.  
"Indeed I am," the Hutt replied, apparently unaware of the Bothan's distaste.  
"What's with all the firepower?" he asked, nodding at the half dozen guards that had descended behind the slug-like alien.  
Garbag smiled broadly, his huge eyes twinkling in the light of the sunset. "Oh-ho, come now, you do not think I would leave my precious guns unprotected now, do you? You are not the only ones who would like to get their hands on them."  
"Actually, technically, they're our guns," Saeryn pointed out. "We're the ones that were contracted to run them. The only reason you have them is because a Black Sun squad raided the freighter they came in on and stole them. Now, we're reasonable people, and we'd like to thank you for keeping them safe for us. We'll give you say, fifteen percent of what the guns are worth, plus whatever you had to spend to get them moved here. Think of it as a token of our appreciation for your efforts on our behalf."  
Garbag laughed then, his deep voice booming and echoing about the bay. "Come now, Farth. Do not think me so foolish as that; it could end up getting you killed. This is Tattooine, not Coruscant. I have the guns now, which means they're mine. If you want to buy them from me, that is fine, but you'll have to give full price. Fifteen percent just won't do, I am afraid."  
Kaybin cursed under his breath, but Saeryn just sighed in exasperation. She had known this was going to happen. "All right, I can be reasonable," she went on. As she spoke, she planted her fists on her hips, as if she were getting angry; her hands were now close enough to her blasters that she could draw and shoot before most of Garbag's thugs could blink. Nevertheless, she wanted to give this situation one more chance to end in something other than a bloodbath. "What would you say to thirty percent? And don't forget, that's plus the expense of getting the guns moved."  
Garbag crossed his stubby arms over his gelatinous chest and gave another laugh. "Ahhh, ever the idealist, aren't you, Farth?" The expression that passed for a grin on his face changed into something more serious. "But you're forgetting something; you're not in any position to negotiate. You're on my territory now. You pay full price for the guns, or you leave empty-handed."  
"Don't you mean Jabba's territory?" Kaybin quipped, his long fingers playing with the trigger of his DX-97x, though he kept the weapon at his side.  
Garbag hesitated for the briefest moment, and although Saeryn wasn't exactly an expert in Hutt body language, she was sure she caught a hint of uncertainty. "You know what I mean," the Hutt returned levelly.  
Saeryn didn't respond immediately, trying to catch hold of the thought that had flashed through her mind at Garbag's hesitation. But it was gone, and the more important matter of getting their guns back took precedence at any rate. She and Kaybin didn't have the kind of money they would need to buy the guns all over again. They barely had enough creds to pay the thirty percent she had offered, and they were only actually carrying a fraction of that. But they needed those guns if they hoped to stay in the business; the Rebel Alliance had made it clear they weren't going to mess around with dealers that couldn't deliver. Too many lives depended on it.  
She was going to have to think fast, and start using some of the strategy and deception she had picked up so well from her father. She made a show of looking around at Garbag's street toughs, as if realizing how much she and Kaybin were up against. "All right," she said softly, slowly. "All right. We'll pay you full price for the guns." She ignored her Bothan partner's incredulous gasp, and went on before he could protest. "But as I'm sure you can guess, we don't have that kind of money on us. We can give you fifteen percent now, another fifteen once we access our accounts, and the rest of it when we sell the guns."  
"No deal," Garbag thundered, almost gleefully, Saeryn thought. "You pay one hundred percent, now, in hard creds, or the guns stay on my ship!"  
Now it was Saeryn's turn to gasp incredulously. He couldn't be serious! She knew Hutts were hardline bargainers, and she had expected him to counter with a nearly insane amount, but one hundred percent was preposterous! He was risking that they would call his bluff and walk away, leaving him with a lot of guns and no buyers. No Hutt would take that kind of risk.  
Once again, the feeling that something wasn't right here came back.  
"You can't be serious," she replied levelly. "No one walks around with that kind of currency on them!"  
Garbag gave what passed for a shrug. "Then I guess we have no deal. You will have to go back to your Rebel friends, and tell them that you lost out to a Hutt."  
That stopped Saeryn cold. At the same time, Kaybin murmured out one side of his mouth, "How does he know we're dealing with the Rebels?"  
"He doesn't," she replied. "But Black Sun does." 


	3. Ouch Time

That settled it for both of them. Without needing to even glance at each other, both of them sprang into action. Kaybin's DX-97x came up, already spraying a veritable firestorm of crimson energy, and Saeryn reached for her blasters even as she dove to one side to throw off the Weequay's aim. But even as she squeezed off a shot and dropped the alien on his back with a bolt through his head, another slashed past her left temple from behind, so close that she could feel the heat.  
She hit the pad and rolled over, bringing both guns back up to track the new enemy. When she saw them, she cursed. There were at least a dozen of them, Rodians, Weequays, Humans, and others. They wore a motley array of tattered fabrics and battered armor, but all of them had a black circle surrounded by wavy black lines emblazoned on their shoulders.  
A Black Sun Death Squad.  
"Kaybin!" she shouted in warning.  
If the Bothan replied, it was lost in the sound of gunfire. She heard his DX-97x shriek again, followed by a dying yell as another of Garbag's cronies toppled from the boarding ramp of the YT-1100.  
Rolling to one side to avoid another shot coming from the Black Sun henchmen, Saeryn opened up with both of her blasters; she didn't aim, she was merely intent on sending back as much energy as she could. Her efforts were partly rewarded. A Human wearing a Mandalorian breastplate and wielding a BlasTech rifle jerked and went down, struck twice in the chest. Two other foes dove to the side to avoid her volley.  
It took Garbag's hired thugs a full three seconds to react to the firefight, but now they had their guns drawn and were adding their own shots to the foray. Lasers pinged into the stone surface of the pad all around Saeryn, preventing her from staying still long enough to get a good shot at the Black Sun squad. She had to keep rolling, and she realized that if she didn't find a way to get to her feet, they would eventually kill her.  
To her right, Kaybin was on his feet and blasting away with maddened vigor; he was facing the opposite direction that Saeryn was, still toward the ship and Garbag's four remaining toughs. His rapid fire gun was wreaking havoc, keeping the aliens from setting up any good shots. One of the Rodians took a bolt in the chest and dropped on its back, sliding down the landing ramp to come to a rest on the pad. But the Bothan's position was getting too hot; though Garbag himself was nowhere to be seen, his cronies were still on the ramp and shooting back at Kaybin. Half of the Black Sun Death Squad was also shooting at him, making it hard for him to stay in one place for more than a second. Cursing as he dropped a spent powerpack and slapped another in its place, he darted to his left, heading for the relatively good cover of the freighter's port side.  
Fortunately for Saeryn, his movement caused most of the Black Sun thugs to shift their attention and their thankfully bad aim to him. The woman stopped shooting long enough to roll to her feet and start after her partner. As she went, she switched out powerpacks for her own guns.  
By the time she reached him, Kaybin was already piling up several crates and barrels that had been stacked near the freighter, constructing a hasty barricade. "It was an ambush!" he exclaimed as he worked, as if Saeryn didn't already realize that. "I should have known Black Sun would be right on our tails!"  
Saeryn didn't listen to the rest of what he had to say as she vaulted over the low row of crates to crouch beside him – which was just as well as most of it was a steady stream of epithets and oaths. She was too busy listening to what was going happening on the other side of the freighter. Which was nothing at all.  
The only thing she could hear was silence.  
"I've got a really bad feeling about this, Kaybin," she breathed.  
"There's a surprise," he muttered as he peered out over the crates toward the front of the landing bay.  
"Worse than usual," she answered. "I think Jabba's working with Black Sun on this one, or at least his crony Garbag is."  
Kaybin stared at her in disbelief. "What? Why? The Hutts have always minded their own business. For the most part, they're rivals of Black Sun."  
"If that's the case in this situation," Saeryn returned, "why aren't they shooting the snot out of each other out there?"  
The Bothan started to reply, but then stopped, apparently hearing the silence for the first time. "I've got a really, really bad feeling about this," he said finally.  
"I don't think this barricade's going to cut it," she said. "I figure there's at least ten of them left, maybe twelve. And that's assuming Garbag doesn't have any more hired guns on the freighter that he's keeping in reserve."  
"Either way, that's more than enough to flank us," Kaybin finished. "Speaking of which, there's some of them coming around from the front." Even as he finished say that, he squeezed off a quick volley of shots, forcing a Weequay and two Rodians to retreat back around the curve of the freighter.  
"Stay here for as long as you can," Saeryn said as she stood. "I'll make sure they don't get us surrounded." She ducked and started under the belly of the YT-1100.  
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm the bait again?" Kaybin piped.  
Saeryn grinned over her shoulder but didn't reply. She headed for the centerline of the freighter, toward the belly turret that hung dark and immobile. She could only hope that one of the toughs wouldn't get the bright idea to power it up and start spraying lasers everywhere. Not only would it probably kill both her and Kaybin, it would likely destroy the entire bay as well, along with the ship and the guns.  
But as she reached the quad guns, she didn't see any movement through the darkened transparisteel of their control pod. Before she had passed them, though, something to her right caught her eye. She turned in that direction and crouched, bringing her twin blasters up, ready to shoot.  
It was a pair of legs, or rather, two pairs of them, slowly making their way around the protruding engine housing of the freighter, and heading toward Kaybin's position. Both were Human from the looks of it, but she could barely see to their waists. There was no way to tell what kind of firepower they were packing. Regardless, she couldn't let them sneak up behind her partner. Casting a glance over her should to make sure none of her foes had gotten the same idea, she started toward the flankers, moving as fast as she could without making any noise.  
But at that moment, chaos broke loose.  
Shattering the silence, Kaybin's DX-97x opened up with a vengeance, shrieking so fast that Saeryn couldn't count the individual shots. Screams echoed through the bay, followed by the reports of heavier weaponry returning fire. The Humans that Saeryn was tracking started running, toward her partner. She would have to act now.  
Gritting her teeth in concentration, she went down on her stomach and brought both of her blasters up, tracking for the briefest second, and then started shooting. Both of the Black Sun members went down with multiple wounds to their legs, but they weren't dead, and that's what Saeryn had been afraid of. These two were good, at least better than their fellows. Even as they fell, their carbines were swinging in her direction, spitting a hail of crimson energy.  
Wincing as the bolts pinged off the freighter above her head and the pad in front of her, Saeryn kept blazing away, hoping she hadn't maneuvered herself into a deathtrap. One of the toughs jerked and went still as her bolt took him through the chest, but the second rolled to his left, avoiding the two shots that would have blown him away.  
But his move allowed Saeryn to do the same – only he was wounded, which made her faster. Even as he was bringing his carbine back up to sight for her forehead, she squeezed off a shot from each blaster.  
And that was that.  
She started crawling as fast as she could, eager to get out from under the freighter where there was almost no room to maneuver. She slipped past the two bodies of her foes, and straightened to find herself directly aft of the YT-1100, facing its engine banks.  
A quarter of the way around the freighter to her left, Kaybin fired two more shots, and then an eerie silence fell over the bay, punctuated by the moans of at least two wounded combatants. She jumped as Garbag's throaty voice echoed off the walls around her, sounding as if it was everywhere at once; the slug-like alien was speaking in Huttese, probably goading his toughs onward. As she listened, it sounded like he might have been just inside the landing ramp of the ship, and an insane idea came to mind.  
Hoping that Kaybin would be able to hold his position long enough, Saeryn holstered her guns and reached up to grab the lowest lip of the engine housing. She hauled herself up into the exhaust cavity of the main thrusters, then edged her way forward until she had reached the starboard edge. She paused briefly to make sure no one had spotted her; she leaned out slightly, but couldn't see anyone. She slipped out and climbed to the top of the engine housing and started up over the gently sloping top of the freighter.  
"Come on, Kaybin," she whispered as she neared the bow, "just hold on a little longer."  
She drew her blasters again, heading for the low spot where the protruding cockpit joined up with the main fuselage of the YT-1100. If she could reach it unseen, she could slip back down to the ground a dozen or so feet below, and then she would be right next to the landing ramp. There would be nothing between her and Garbag then.  
But even as she reached the cockpit, two things happened at once, and neither of them was good.  
With a collective howl, the remaining Black Sun toughs charged Kaybin's position, careening around the curve of the freighter, their guns blazing even before the Bothan was in sight. At the same time, Saeryn heard a muffle yell below her, and looked down into the cockpit to see a Rodian in the pilot's chair, already training its heavy carbine on her.  
With a squawk that was half shriek, half yell, Saeryn emptied both her powerpacks into the cockpit, closing her eyes as the Rodian returned fire with equal gusto. The transparisteel of the cockpit was designed to withstand even a handful of accidental discharges, but it could not endure the firestorm that struck it from both sides. Accompanied by a numbing crackling and popping, the canopy exploded, spraying razor sharp shards in all direction, along with a goodly amount of fire and sparks as large portions of the ships controls disappeared under the barrage of lasers.  
Even as she fell backward toward the ground below, Saeryn felt pain rip through her body in several places. She vaguely felt herself hit the ground, still squeezing the triggers of her spent blasters. The world swam around her, the hazy images punctuated by flashes of red light and the sounds of shouts and screams. Realizing that the fight wasn't over yet, she struggled to roll over and stand up, but her limbs wouldn't respond. She simply lay there for a moment, trying not to feel the waves of burning that swept through her. 


	4. Blaze of Glory

Finally, after listening to the ongoing battle for nearly a minute, she managed to get her arms to move, and the world to focus a bit more. Still not sitting up, she managed to pry the spent powerpacks from her blaster, and slip new ones in their place. By then, she could move her legs, but she couldn't feel much in her right one. Deciding to worry about that later, she struggled to her knees, and peered out at the bay from her vantage point near the landing ramp of the ship.  
Garbag was nowhere to be seen, and she couldn't hear him either. Kaybin's DX-97x was still singing its song of death, but she couldn't see the fighting taking place between him and whoever remained of the Black Sun group. She knew she had to help him; if she could come at the enemy from behind, she and her partner just might survive this ambush and live to run guns another day. She stood and started around the ramp toward the firefight.  
Movement to her left made her turn, and she caught a glimpse of a thick, stubby arm swinging toward her. She caught the blow across the face and was sent sprawling on her back, both blasters skittering away from her already shaky hands.  
"Out of my way!" Garbag roared as he slithered past her with all the speed he could muster.  
Saeryn rolled for her guns, but after taking two hits, she knew she wasn't going to be fast enough. Even as she brought one DX-97 up to track the Hutt's path, the slug was already slipping out of the bay and up the access corridor. Her single shot went wide and hit the wall behind him. Cursing, she started to her feet to give chase, but the sounds of booted feet nearby made her attend to more immediate concerns.  
Four of the Black Sun thugs were bearing down on her, running like mad and yelling various oaths and curses. Kaybin charged close behind them, yelling like a mad Togorian and blazing away with his rapid-fire gun. One of the two Rodians and a Human took bolts in the back and sprawled on their faces, unmoving. A Weequay spun completely around as he took one of Saeryn's shots in the shoulder, then dropped in his tracks as a second bolt went through his chest. The second Rodian bulled right into the Human woman, and Saeryn yelled in dismay as she was knocked down yet again.  
As Kaybin stopped to help his partner, the other alien made good his escape, and darted out of the landing bay as fast as his legs could carry him.  
Saeryn groaned as Kaybin offered her a hand and pulled her to her feet. "Are you okay?" he asked, his fur ruffling in apparent concern as he looked her over. "What happened to you? I thought I was supposed to be the one to get shot up. I was the bait after all."  
Saeryn blinked as her partner, the landing bay, and everything in it threatened to loose focus again. She gripped the Bothan's shoulder tightly, trying to stop herself from swaying on her feet. "I couldn't let you take away all the glory," she tried to say cheerfully, but it came out as more of a gasp. "I'll be fine."  
Kaybin didn't look too certain, but nodded. "All right. Hey, we've got to get those guns out of here. The Imperials are sure to show up any second; there's no way they're going to ignore the kind of firepower we were playing around with in here."  
"How?" Saeryn returned. "We've got no way to transport them back to the Lady Rebel, and like you said, not enough time. We'd have to hire at least a pair of cargo speeder, and by the time we got them loaded, the Imps would be swarming over this place."  
Kaybin hissed and muttered something in Bothan. "Fine. But I at least want to get a look at them before they go to join the Imperial arsenal. I didn't come all this way just to turn around now and leave, without even seeing them."  
His partner couldn't help but chuckle at that, though it hurt to do so. "Whatever. I guess I might as well come with you. Let's make it fast."  
Leaning heavily on Kaybin's shoulder, Saeryn started up the ramp of the ship. Both of them kept their weapons drawn, just in case any of the less courageous thugs still remained in hiding aboard. But as they walked through the corridors, no attackers presented themselves. As they passed the access hatch to the cockpit, Saeryn could see that her Rodian opponent was still in his chair, slumped to one side. The entire canopy of the cockpit had been burned away in the hail of energy, and even now, several fires were starting to burn hungrily in the remains of the control consoles.  
A minute later, they reached the main cargo bay of the freighter. Stacked in low, neat rows were about two dozen large crates made of black metal. There was no sign of any guards, so the two smugglers stepped inside.  
"What was the access code our suppliers gave us?" Kaybin asked as he left Saeryn leaning against one wall and moved toward one of the boxes.  
"Seven-two-seven-one-beta-nine," Saeryn replied. "But we're not supposed to use it, just give it to the Rebels. I guess they didn't want us seeing exactly what we were running for them."  
Kaybin just looked at her, the classic "oh please" look on his face. "Come on," he said, "what's the harm in taking a quick peek now? It's not like the Rebels are ever going to see these guns anyway. Not now." He punched the code into the access pad on the crate, and with a hiss of released pressure, the upper panel broke its seal and popped upward half an inch. Kaybin took hold of the lid and pulled it away, revealing a row of heavy blaster carbines sitting atop a bundle of packing foam. He gave a low whistle. "Wouldn't mind having a few of these myself," he said. "I guess the Rebels are serious about taking on the Empire. Too bad a few guns won't do them much good. It'd be interesting to see how they ran things once they took care of Palpatine."  
"Yeah, well, that's not our problem now," Saeryn replied. "Come on, we've got to get out of here. We've wasted too much time already."  
Kaybin started toward her, but stopped as a low-pitched beeping started to echo around the bay. "What's that?"  
The beeping continued, gradually increasing in both tempo and pitch.  
Saeryn swallowed as the horrible realization hit her.  
"Sounds like a detonator," Kaybin breathed, echoing her thought.  
"Sithspawn!" Saeryn shouted. "Garbag's rigged the guns! We've got to go, now!"  
She started hobbling down the corridor as fast as she could. Kaybin was right behind her, grabbing her under one arm and all but dragging her through the ship. They half stumbled, half fell down the landing ramp, barely staying on their feet to keep running. They made their way across docking bay 92 and started up the access corridor; without breaking their stride, they plowed into the busy thoroughfare beyond, pushing their way through the crowds as fast as they could.  
They were less than a dozen yards down the tunnel when the freighter exploded behind them.  
It started as a low rumble that quickly built into an ear-shattering crescendo, shaking the spaceport complex so hard that dust and pebbles rained down from the ceilings of the tunnels. The stone docking bay easily withstood the blast, but the solid walls acted as a channel for the fire and debris from the ship. Most of it went skyward in a plume of flame, metal, and smoke, while the rest shrieked up the access corridor and spilled out into the main tunnel. Several of the pedestrians were blown off their feet and thrown across the crowd like dust motes. They were slow in getting up, as the crowd was more concerned about getting as far from away from the scene as possible before the authorities arrived rather than helping someone else.  
In the chaos that broke loose, no one noticed the soot-covered Bothan and the battered Human that slipped quickly through the crowds and deeper into the warren of Mos Eisley. 


	5. Ale and Revenge

The next morning found Saeryn and Kaybin at one of the local tapcafés, a rather run-down establishment called The Virydia Palace. It hardly lived up to its name, but it served the best Lomin Ale on Tatooine as far as Saeryn was concerned. And after consuming three of them to Kaybin's one, she was feeling much less sorry for herself than she had been this morning when she had woken up aboard the Lady Rebel to hear Kaybin tell her she had been shot twice in the right leg and was filled with more transparisteel than a Jawa's junkshop.  
The Bothan had exaggerated slightly, of course, but one thing he wasn't joking about was the fact that she needed immediate medical attention. She knew from just the way she felt that he was right. They had sought the help of a grizzled old man who claimed he had been a medic for the royal family on Naboo before he had been dismissed for unspecified reasons. Recalling the way he had pulled the pieces of freighter canopy from her, Saeryn had a good idea as to what those reasons were, and she was going to have the scars to prove it.  
"So what are we going to do now?" Kaybin asked as he sipped his second drink slowly. "We don't have the kind of creds we're going to need to replace those guns, and the Rebels aren't likely to pay us in advance for another shipment after the fiasco we just pulled off. I think it's time we got out of the business while the going was good."  
"And do what?" Saeryn retorted scornfully, perhaps a little more sharply than she would have if she were sober. "Go back to my father?" She took another swallow of her fourth Lomin Ale. "He'd shoot you right off, with the excuse that you were a bad influence on me. Then he'd have me locked up on some penal colony for betraying the Empire, likely for the rest of my life." She shook head and lowered her voice a bit. "There's no going back for us, Kaybin."  
"So what do you propose we do?" the Bothan prompted. "We can't just sit here in Mos Eisley and rot!"  
"I don't intend to," she replied, with a note of certainty in her voice that made him fall silent and wait to see what she said next. "We're going to discover who sold us out to Black Sun, and then we're going to make them pay for it. Maybe we won't get the money for those guns, but at least I'll feel better about this whole thing."  
Kaybin looked at her for a moment, and then the full import of what she was saying struck him. He gave a nervous, incredulous chuckle. "Saeryn, come on, you're drunk, you can't be serious!" He paused and looked her in the eye. She just glared back at him. "You're serious! Saeryn, we can't go up against Black Sun! We'll be turned into Bantha fodder for sure!"  
Saeryn set her glass back on the bar top and stood, checking her blasters out of habit. "I'm dead serious, Kaybin," she replied, looking back up at him. "I am not going to let these creeps ruin my life and keep me looking over my shoulder every time I'm on a job. Black Sun is going to learn they can't mess with me, and it's going to start with whoever sold us out. Now are you with me, Kaybin, or are you going to retire early?"  
Kaybin winced and looked away, his furry brow creased in thought. "Dead serious," he muttered. "Well, the 'dead' part is all but guaranteed." He gave a mirthless chuckle and shook his head. "We've been partners for a long time, Saeryn," he went on finally. "And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to put a bolt through whoever betrayed us. So I guess I'm with you. Where do we start?"  
Saeryn grinned. "I think we should give old Chjivjeebs a visit. If he didn't sell us out, he'll know who did. Come on, it's almost noon. It's time to start stirring up some trouble."  
As she strode out of the tapcafé, Kaybin was right behind her, and the two gunrunners started down the street, ready to take on the galaxy.  
  
Author's Notes: Well, that's it for now. Hopefully, I will have future episodes involving Saeryn and Kaybin, as I would very much like to explore the plotline as to who is behind the fiasco involving the guns and the ambush, etc. I don't have anything written yet, so I can't say when it will be posted. Thanks for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed doing so as much as I did writing it. Your reviews have been quite helpful, and I thank you for them. Please continue to post any reviews that you may have. 


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